Libraries vs buying books

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Author here, who also loves libraries. We love it when you read our books, however you can, though of course benefit most directly when you make a purchase. Pre-orders help a lot, so if an author you love is about to release a book, please pre-order and request that your library also do so. Tell your friends, too!

Next, if you read the book from the library and love it, please leave a review on Amazon and great reads or whatever platform you use. Publishers also look at an author's social media when deciding what size advance to give and how many copies to print, so follow the authors you love on Facebook and Twitter, etc.

Lastly, don't forget books whenever you need to buy someone a gift.

I would never begrudge someone for using the library. I do all the time. Just keep reading! And tell your friends to buy books.

Thanks for the tip about pre-orders being helpful, as an avid book buyer I will do more of that. Often I just go back and order once released, so I'm happy to start doing the pre-order if that helps!

[Anonymous]

Nine times out of ten, I'll pick library over buying. Normally I'll just go to overdrive and search for some books and browse until something catches my interest. What may happen though is that I'll go somewhere like Goodreads or another site with recommendations and there will be a book that I am really interested in reading that's not in the library yet. So I may suggest they buy a copy of it, but I'll probably go to audible and just look for it there.

[Anonymous]

Everything I want to read has six+ week holds on Libby. So some things I get on KU or Apple Books.

[Anonymous]

Audiobooks to the rescue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Audiobooks to the rescue

These have basically the same, if not longer, wait on Libby.

[Anonymous]

Donate to your Friends of the Library! That way you utilize the library and donate your savings to the Friends who then invest in free resources for all. Win-win!

[Anonymous]

Library funding typically depends on level of use. More people using the libraries means more funding, so by using the library even if you can afford to buy your books, you are supporting your local library and helping to make more books available to those who cannot afford to buy them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everything I want to read has six+ week holds on Libby. So some things I get on KU or Apple Books.

MCPL has started putting some popular books on “lucky day” circulation where some copies aren’t put on hold they just are available when they are available

[Anonymous]

I use the library probably every 10-14 days. We get about 10-15 books for our preschooler. I get 2-3. I also read free Amazon books on my phone. I just bought 3 books from B&N- one as a gift, the other two for me (also a gift ).

I want books in my house so that my child(ren) know the joy of reading. While I do love the portability of electronic books, there is something different about holding the weight of the book in your hand. I also have a hard time retaining from the computer vs text. I plan to have books in our sitting room in our built-ins but also have a library shelf where we rotate books from the library.

[Anonymous]

I only buy books for my kids, because I want to foster a love of reading and books (like PP said above). If I take my kids to Barnes & Noble to browse and they find books they actually want to read, I count that as a win and will buy them. Kids are also more likely to re-read a book. One of my kids is really into Manga, and it's hard to find those at our library. Most copies are old, missing, etc. Buying those seems like one of the only options right now.

I had a huge book buying habit when I was in high school through early adulthood (could never get to a library when it was open and borrowing ebooks wasn't a thing), but now I exclusively use the library. I'll maybe buy a reference book or a nonfiction book that I know is popular and will take me a long time to read. I was at B&N yesterday with one of my kids, and I couldn't justify buying a single book. I knew I could get most of the new books via Lucky Day at the library and backlist books would have short to no wait in Libby or on the shelf.

Thanks for the tip on pre-orders. Maybe I'll do that for my favorite authors. I also read over 100 books a year, so buying books isn't an option. Note that I have some friends who ONLY buy books and refuse to use the library! They are big readers but think the library is gross and weird. I have no words for that attitude. Just confusion.

[Anonymous]

I have 100% converted to reading books only on my Kindle and through the library system. About a year ago I picked up a library book and when I started reading couldn't get over how small the font was!!!!!! These eyes are used to being able to adjust the font size on my Kindle. Needless to say, I couldn't read the book and haven't checked out a library book since!

I do appreciate reading this thread. I am not a book buyer since I won't read a book more than once and I'm not interested in bringing more clutter into my house, but it's so nice to read others are avid book buyers.

[Anonymous]

I will go through a stretch of reading on my kindle, but then I need a physical book for a while.

I know it’s an old comment, but to the person who is complaint of wait times, get more library cards. There are some big city libraries you can join that get dozens of copies of new releases that you can access pretty quickly on Libby.

Also, the new books go up around 4 PM on their release day.

[Anonymous]

Regarding wait times, I've never really cared whether I read a book now or in 15 weeks when the hold comes through. I keep my Holds maximized and have 10 pages (and growing) of Wish List books. Between the two, there is never a time when I don't have holds coming through or the ability to read available books from my Wish List. Even if I didn't have my current set up, it's easy to sort by Available Now and find something to read. There are way more books than I'll ever have the time to read!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regarding wait times, I've never really cared whether I read a book now or in 15 weeks when the hold comes through. I keep my Holds maximized and have 10 pages (and growing) of Wish List books. Between the two, there is never a time when I don't have holds coming through or the ability to read available books from my Wish List. Even if I didn't have my current set up, it's easy to sort by Available Now and find something to read. There are way more books than I'll ever have the time to read!!!

I don't have as many pending (on hold or wish list) as this, but I also don't mind waiting. I'll put a new release on hold with a wait time of six months and that's fine with me. So much to read (listen to), so little time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regarding wait times, I've never really cared whether I read a book now or in 15 weeks when the hold comes through. I keep my Holds maximized and have 10 pages (and growing) of Wish List books. Between the two, there is never a time when I don't have holds coming through or the ability to read available books from my Wish List. Even if I didn't have my current set up, it's easy to sort by Available Now and find something to read. There are way more books than I'll ever have the time to read!!!

I don't have as many pending (on hold or wish list) as this, but I also don't mind waiting. I'll put a new release on hold with a wait time of six months and that's fine with me. So much to read (listen to), so little time!

Same. When a hold comes up, I've usually half-forgotten that I ever put it on hold, so it's like a present from the past version of me.